Is it cheaper? Prices of Video Plates after release

The new generation video cards arrived at a salty price, especially when we compared to the previous generation. This was visible in analyzes such as RTX 5070, which won the title not at all exciting: “evolving back: analysis of Nvidia Geforce RTX 5070”.

The reason was simple: with almost the same performance as the RTX 4070 Super, this sign has cost significantly above what its predecessor cost months ago. Just see where the RTX 4070 super this chart was, and then add to RTX 5070.

But after the climb, we have the descent. Yes, prices improve. Let’s look at how much the price of the new generation of video cards have retreated since its release, as well as explaining what factors influence the numbers that appear on your computer screen, when you are searching your next video card.

Prices

We set up a graph with the new generation of video signs, putting their values from March to here, and the trend is evident: practically all have become cheaper throughout this period. You can play with the chart below to see the behavior of each of them.

Let’s make this trend this trend here. Let’s compare the highest values charged to each of these plates versus the average and minimum values of the last 30 days. For the highest values, we will use the 95% percentile.

The goal is to clean those 5% absurd that appear throughout the sampling, either by wrong registered products, or because a model was completely faded from the market and only had one piece available for an exorbitant value.

So if we take into consideration the best price versus the worst, there are several signs that have already fallen a third of its price, such as RTX 9070 XT and RTX 5090.

And even when we are more conservative, and compare the maximum price versus the current average price this month, the difference is still representative, with several products with a reduction of more than 10% of its cost, and highlights such as RTX 5070 already at 17% reduction.

Its average price is $ 4,500, and the lowest registered price already fits $ 4,000, which makes it cost almost the same as the RTX 4070 Super in the middle of last year. It makes sense, it gives almost nothing more performance, only adds some technologies compared to its predecessor, so a price at least closer is something fairer.

Lower price plates in price are the least time in the market, if the RTX 5060 and RX 9060 XT. The Intel Arc B570 didn’t go back too much, which is a shame, she would damage the RX 7600 segment if it was a little cheaper.

But what caused this price variation? There are many more factors than you may imagine. I go to the most relevant, and highlight the most relevant for this reduction process we are seeing. But to understand this process, we have to first understand where prices are decided from.

The suggested price

Video cards have a suggested price by graphic chips manufacturers, Nvidia, AMD and Intel, which are the reference for the expected cost to the end consumer of the product.

Normally, we see the most basic plates essentially costing the suggested price, and more advanced models, with more robust projects created by brands such as MSI, Asus, Gigabyte and others, adding an extra cost for these premium products.

But Nvidia, AMD and Intel cannot simply say how much signs should cost, as manufacturers, distributors and retailers are free to practice prices freely. Atypical market pressures can greatly move at these costs, and the pandemic was an excellent example of this, where the suggested price became a legend, given the shortage of global chips that made the price of everything trigger.

But after the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic, the RTX 50 series has also been harshly criticized, and is still criticized abroad because video cards are rarely found for the price suggested by Nvidia and AMD. There are few models in MSRP, acronym for the suggested price in English, and those that exist disappear almost instantly.

The Gamer Nexus channel, for example, raised the price of the plates for sale and found that multiple models have no plate in the price suggested by the manufacturers. Of the 13 plates of the current generation of Geforces, Radeons and ARCs, only 5 had at least one product in stock, ready for purchase by MSRP.

In Brazil the reality is different. AMD Brasil has not defined suggested prices for its Radeon line, while Nvidia yes passed values to several of its releases. Nvidia’s national arm strategy seems to have been conservative, and the result is that much of the time is possible to find signs in the suggested price.

The RTX 5060 TI and RTX 5060, for example, had the following prices suggested announced by NVIDIA BRASIL:

• GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB – R$ 4.099
• GeForce RTX 5060Ti 8GB – R$ 3.599
• GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB – R$ 2.849

If you throw these models on the chart below, you will find that after a few days of the release, you can see the constancy of available plates or the suggested price, or below it.

But if the suggested price is just a reference, which pulls the prices up at release, and then down? Let’s list the main factors, and how they are acting in the current price reduction process.

What pulls prices upwards

To understand how a video card has its price for the end consumer, it is necessary to understand what the action chain is like that bring it to Brazil. There are a number of factors and risks involved, and they weigh differently in the cost of video cards in their release and in the following months.

The first factor is transportation. Video cards are produced in Asia, in their overwhelming majority. Bringing through boats is the cheapest way, but it is slow, taking two months the transportation.

To have the product in time for retailers to sell at launch, the initial units need to use air transport, faster and more expensive. Due to the size of video signs, they are even more affected by this factor compared to small processors, for example.

The second factor is product availability. With fewer signs, and stocks still forming, joined with the peak of interest that a new product launch causes, we have the market logic entering action. High demand and low availability boost prices upwards.

At this point, manufacturers then choose to focus on their most increased products, with greater profit margins, after all is the most logical thing to do. This makes the available plates end up being only the most expensive, with robust and factory overclocking projects, for example.

The third factor is the risk of dollar fluctuations. Between ordering the product and having it for sale, something that is around two weeks, manufacturers, distributors and shopkeepers has to deal with the variation of the value of the Brazilian currency against the dollar. If the coins varies overly disadvantageously, the business can be harmed.

To protect themselves from this risk, there is a safety margin added to protect the investment. Before the launch there is no way to readjust the prices, so it becomes necessary. With the plate on the market, and the availability of products increasing, the adjustment of this dollar risk is thinner and with smaller margins.

There is a fourth factor that is the rebate. Rebate, in Portuguese, can be translated as a discount. It is a resource for sales personnel to tune the relationship between chip manufacturers, signs, distributors and retailers, offering a value to make the business more attractive to participants.

So if a new shipment of plates comes with cheaper price, the rebate can be applied in the first bid of signs to prevent them from being tougher price, and the retailer has to bear the loss of this price change.

In the case of RX 9070 XT this seems to have been very relevant. AMD and its partners worked apparently with a higher selling value during the initial phase of product shipping to retailers. When it was announced to the public, the plaque arrived at a more competitive price, and the rebate was important to compensate for everyone who had bought the board in this pre-launch period, with the expectation of a price for higher end consumer.

It has a fifth factor, with a very Brazilian face. The product nationalization process, in the customs processmay become another factor that increases the delay for the arrival of the plates and can affect the price of some of the products.

To make matters worse, when this process takes a long time, it generates costs, as it is necessary to pay the storage of these signs while waiting to finish the bureaucratic part. All our analysis of the RTX 50 series were impacted by locking on the import process, so this factor may also have contributed to the additional cost at the beginning of this generation.

Down!

The passage of time ends up in favor of most of these factors. With more signs in the market, more basic models are beginning to emerge, with the lowest cost.

This most stable turnover and longer product period in the market begins to make the use of maritime transport viable. Cheaper signs, with smaller margins but larger volumes, will need to look for economies, and the most affordable transportation of the sea is one of them.

With product turnover happening, the need for security margins to deal with dollar fluctuation reduces. Now there is a flow of products coming in and out, something that before the launch was dammed. Retailers were buying the signs, but they couldn’t move prices while waiting for the release.

The dollar, including, which is the crucial currency for all these transactions, has been retreating in recent months, something that is also positively affecting the drop in prices. After Picos at the end of last year and in March, he retreated for the value of a year ago.

That is, it had retreated, this is a good example of how elements can change direction in unexpected ways. Following the announcement of rates against Brazil, the US government eventually pulled the value of the US currency and devaluing the real.

How far drops?

We entered basically in this phase of prices, and I believe here comes the question: How far will you download? Buy now or hope more?

Anyone who fits that you know where prices go is irresponsible, after all there are several factors, and many quite volatile. What I can bring from reference is to look back, and the RTX 5070, for example, reaching the $ 4,000, puts it at the price of its predecessor, the RTX 4070 Super, cost last year.

There was a shortage of products between generations, which generated the price increase of RTX 4070 Super home from R $ 5,400, price that was launched the RTX 5070. And now it seems that we have all this reversed.

So if it will fall more, I have no way of knowing, but it seems that all the chaos of the RTX 40 line shortages and inflated prices for the RTX 50 series are passing. I don’t know if I would bet heavily on much larger falls from now on, or if they happen, there are other factors, and no longer so much related to the transition of video card generation.

But let’s keep an eye on, so you can be sure that if any relevant trend appears, we will bring in detail here in Adrenaline, in a future article.